The Global Dialogue, Natural resources: The Sustainability
Challenge, held from 19-21 June, 2000, is the first of a series of ten
Global Dialogues organized by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in
conjunction with the Hanover Expo 2000. Over 60 leading institutions from
different countries are involved in the planning and realization of the
Global Dialogue series. The Dialogue series bring together academics,
political and business decision-makers and representatives from NGOs and
international organizations. The objectives of the series are to develop
new forms of participation and dialogue, specifically in the areas of
health, environment and labour. Following the Dialogue series, a programme
for global partnership will be set up to reach the broader public and
reunite it with prominent personalities from international public life.

The Global Dialogue on Natural Resources and Sustainability endeavors
to address, inter alia: future resource use at the global, regional
and local levels; distribution; and protection of resources that are
either non-renewable or gradually renewable. Linkages will be made between the
Global Dialogue and on-going natural resources-related initiatives,
including international conventions, regional agreements and local
initiatives. Specifically, the Dialogue discusses best practices and
options to improve use, distribution and conservation of natural resources
in line with sustainability, technological efficiency and innovation to
meet increasing demands on renewable natural resources. Furthermore, it
will help define the agenda for the Earth Summit 2002 and tackle
sustainable production and consumption patterns of governments, business
and the public.

PLENARY

SETTING THE SCENE

In an opening statement, Chair Simon Upton, OECD Round Table on
Sustainable Development, welcomed participants and called for a multi-way
dialogue exchange. Noting the sustainable development debate is bedeviled
by statistics of doom and smooth statements, he stressed making use of the
Global Dialogue for communicating with people and allowing them to
internalize sustainability.

Speaking on environment, conflict and sustainable peace, Alexander
Carius, Director, Ecologic Centre for International and European
Environmental Research, highlighted a mining conflict where environment
degradation triggered an unstable social system. He noted the
institutional context and the relationship between violence, population
pressure and environmental impacts and advocated coherent integration of
poverty eradication, sustainable resource management, democratization and
human security and, inter alia, fostering environmental
cooperation. He underscored the success of environment policy in
developing sophisticated management tools and agreements but the failure
of policy integration at both national and international levels.

Tariq Banuri, SEI Senior Research Director, Boston, spoke about
sustainability and climate change scenarios. He reflected on the
historical context of globalization and its two current trends: increasing
global interdependence and fragmentation of equality. He suggested that
sustainable development induces intergenerational inequities and stressed
criteria for sustainability transition, including justice and fairness,
equity, poverty eradication, peace, security and governance. He
highlighted the use of scenarios to understand solutions to climate change
and suggested the use of efficiency, equity and sustainability.

Claude Fussler, Director of Stakeholder Relations, WBCSD and SEI Board
Member, gave an introduction on the challenge of creating eco-efficient
markets. He explored the possibility of market suitability and
accessibility in conjunction with environmental security. He suggested an
important step in achieving this goal is the availability of affordable
goods tosubstistence markets.

Terri L. Willard, Internet Communications Officer, IISD, drew attention
to the issue of knowledge management and its possible impacts on
sustainability. She said that while knowledge management relies
increasingly on electronic means, direct and personal communications are
still valuable technologies. She identified explicit, implicit and tacit
knowledge, encouraged diversity of and communication between knowledge
systems, and stressed the important role of intermediaries.

The second part of the opening Plenary was dedicated to discussion
between panelists and participants. On preventing conflict, Carius
stressed the key
challenge of linking sustainable development and peace promotion.
Regarding capacity building, Banuri stressed the importance of long-term
building with a participatory approach. Fussler stressed eco-efficiency to
reduce the link between consumption and negative environmental impacts.
Carius emphasized ensuring that governments perceive consumption problems
as political issues.

On developing countries’ difficulty to compete with developed
countries, Fussler emphasized intelligent and collaborative solutions to
avoid returning to protectionism.

On the role of democracy in sustainable development, panelists
emphasized the importance of equity and justice, equal resource access,
information access and avoiding technocratic control. Chair Upton noted
democracy’s strength in addressing large ethical matters requiring broad
direction but its uselessness in addressing highly detailed matters.

Responding to comments on the Kyoto Protocol and the pessimism that has
emanated from it, Banuri reemphasized the need for a proper dialogue
between the three approaches: efficiency, equity and sustainability.

GLOBAL FOCUS

In an afternoon plenary session, His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf, of
Sweden, thanked the SEI and collaborators for organizing the first Global
Dialogue on Natural Resources. He stressed the planet is still heading in
the wrong direction despite progress made since Stockholm, 1972. He
stated, at the core of sustainable development, there is a need to show
willingness for participation, new respect for nature and a common
understanding, and emphasized it is time for developing new structures and
partnerships, involving industry and civil society. He emphasized dialogue
as communication, networks and knowledge and hoped that new ideas would be
provoked contributing to the realization of a sustainable future.

Peter C. Goldmark, Chairman and CEO, International Herald Tribunal,
introduced the session using the metaphor of planet earth being on a ship
journey. Participants questioned panelists on the
role and use of education, the role of NGOs, integrating long term
perspectives in decision making, the lack of or slow pace of action, how
to improve systems of governance and the role of mass media.

Luciano Respini, President of Dow Europe, visualized a pyramid with
sustainable development at the top and constituencies below drafting a
manifesto focusing on dialogue and linkages. He said the key issue is
identifying appropriate incentives in a market-driven society, beyond just
shareholder value.

Ola Ullsten, Co-Chair of the World Commission on Forests and
Sustainable Development (WCFSD) said the ship is off course due to
short-term interests and called for government pressure on industry to
enforce technological solutions.

Alicia Bárcena, Head of Environment and Human Settlements (ECLAC),
said that the market could not provide sufficient solutions to
environmental and development problems. She said certain values, which the
market does not recognize, need to be taken into account and conserved by
other institutions. She cautioned against simplifying the perception of
the various sectors and pointed out the variety of representatives and
actors within the private sector, governments and the NGO community. She
stressed connecting initiatives at the local level, closing the digital
divide and influencing economic decision makers.

Hanns Michael Hölz, Global Head of Environmental Coordination,
Deutsche Bank AG, highlighted the need for sustainable cooperation between
governments, NGOs and the business world and called for
partnership-oriented organizations.

Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, pointed out the need
for education and development and strengthening of science for
environment and development. She said the current model of economic
development is inherently toxic and that it takes investment and
discipline to reverse the trend of resource degradation. She also called
for quicker solutions and stressed the lack of rights and entitlements at
the global level.

Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, Director General, IUCN
Switzerland, indicated the role of partnerships within IUCN and its
challenge in establishing long-term strategies in the dialogue for joint
action.

WORKSHOPS

ECOSYSTEMS 21

The workshop, convened by the GEF and WWF and chaired by Claude Martin,
addressed global priorities and partnerships for integrated ecosystems
management.

James Martin Jones, WWF-UK, gave an introduction of the Global 200
Initiative, which aims toward a methodology for determining global
conservation priorities. Drawing attention to various examples of
ecosystem diversity, he said that the challenge resides in securing a
broad range of ecosystems and as the basis of the world’s economy. He
called for conservation of specific eco-regions, which carry unique
biodiversity, and unusual ecological phenomena.

Colin Rees, Team Leader, GEF Biodiversity, discussed the GEF’s role
in the field of ecosystem management and biodiversity protection. He
highlighted stakeholders involvement,
contextual challenge and integrated ecosystem management as the three
main challenges in the process of pursuing an integrated approach. He said
that long-term and adaptive management approaches are needed and that, in
order to optimize benefits, synergies must be created between the three
GEF focal areas (climate, water, biodiversity).

Speaking on behalf of Prof. Michael Succow, University of Greifswald,
Germany, Thomas Trhaenhardt tackled partnerships with Eastern European
States and the Russian Federation to achieve an eco-regional approach for
Eurasia. Presenting the focal areas of the conservation activities and
highlighting the special characteristics of the partnership projects, he
said existing institutions should not be replaced by a framework
organization.

In his presentation, Georg Schwede, CEO, WWF Germany, highlighted the
practical implications of an eco-region-based conservation approach (ERBC).
He pointed out that the ERBC is a strategic approach for conducting
conservation with a long-term vision, enabling a broad assessment of the
best places to invest in conservation and providing a framework for
identifying and addressing root causes for biodiversity loss. He said
ameliorating root causes are central to effective implementation of ERBC,
as well as establishing long term commitment, rejuvenation, reinforcement
and creation of partnerships and alliances between the various
stakeholders.

Anneke Trux, Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS), pointed out the
change in terminology from development aid to development cooperation to
the current partnership model, and stressed the need to identify areas
where partnerships are needed for sustainable development. She said
partnerships would need to balance interests and benefits, build upon
reciprocal obligations, mutually agreed objectives, shared
responsibilities, and establish North/South and South/South cooperation.
As tools for establishing partnerships within the OSS, she highlighted
legally binding instruments, especially the Convention to Combat
Desertification (CCD), monitoring and evaluation, information management and
circulation and technology transfer.

Christophe Crepin, Global Environment Africa, World Bank, discussed
emerging partnerships for integrated ecosystems management in Africa. He
pointed out many new actors and stakeholders and the need for
coordination. He highlighted the need to address and integrate
constituencies at all levels,
and to develop a clear understanding of the costs and benefits and the
comparative advantages of partnerships.

WATER 21

The workshop, convened by SEI and chaired by Arno Rosemarin, SEI
Communications Director, addressed conflicts and challenges in the global
agenda.

On hydropolitics, Leif Ohlsson, Professor, University of Örebro,
highlighted linkages between water scarcity and social resource and
presented a water management scheme. He noted the risk of "water
wars" might be less than that of internal conflicts between groups,
sectors, or water-privileged segments and the governments. He said
research should identify hidden factors responsible for scarcity and make
them available to people dependent on water for agricultural activities
and food security.

Malcolm Mercer, Director, IUCN Canada, presented a World Water Vision
project which proposes, inter alia, involvement of stakeholders in
integrated management, full cost pricing of water, public funding for
research, and massive increase in investments. He said payment of the full
value of water supply would include the value of goods and services for
provision of fresh water, including water cleaning, flood control,
pollution attenuation, and the recreational and educational value of
water.

Alan Hall, Coordinator, Global Water Partnership (GWP), highlighted
themes from the GWP framework for action, including: mobilizing political
will; making water governance effective; generating "water
wisdom"; tackling urgent water priorities; and investing for a secure
water future. He stressed the importance of putting IWRM into practice
with governments taking responsibility for allocation. He also stressed
the need for greater involvement of the private sector to overcome
obstacles linked to service delivery and investment.

On water and food, Franck Rijsberman, Director, International Water
Management Institute (IWMI), noted that 70% of water supplies go to
agricultural use. He compared data on population increase, irrigated area
expansion, agricultural water needs, and total growth in primary water
source and noted that although some areas of the world have sufficient
levels of water supplies, a lack of infrastructure prevents channeling and
efficient agricultural use, giving an illusion of dearth. He identified
solutions to create sustainable food levels, among which increasing crop
productivity and irrigated areas, or growing in more suitable environments
and trading food products.

Juergen Resch, Board Member, Global Nature Fund (GNF), presented a
project entitled "Living lakes" on goals for lakes conservation.
He highlighted local initiatives in, inter alia, the St Lucia Lake
in South Africa and the Mono Lake in California to underscore work
achieved by partnerships between NGOs and corporations. He said most
projects focus on developing countries and called for continued financial
assistance.

ENERGY 21

The workshop, convened by the GEF and the Wuppertal Institute, discussed
ways of integrating cleaner solutions in energy market reform.

Referring to conclusions of the EXPO Compendium on Sustainable Energy,
Chair Peter Hennicke, Wuppertal Institute, noted efforts to examine energy
from the perspective of the consumer and to place emphasis on energy
efficiency and resource productivity. Responding to questions, he noted,
inter alia, the importance of changing incentive structures and the
promising prospects for fuel cells after 2010.

Roberto Vigotti, Chair, International Energy Agency (IEA), highlighted
world energy demand growth projections and the importance of a supportive,
consistent policy framework for market integration of renewables. He
emphasized market positioning and strategy in accelerating renewable
energy and noted factors that will reduce price and bring greater value
for renewables. He stressed cost scenarios for learning investments in
different markets, relevant markets for renewables and impacts of learning
investments on competitiveness. Regarding a query on centralized political
barriers to change, he emphasized interagency collaboration and IEAï¿½s
role in convincing governments to consider renewables.

Highlighting the proposed China-GEF Renewable Energy Partnership,
Jinlin Yang, GEF Focal Point, stressed the obstacles in China to
developing renewable energy. Emphasizing political constraints,
stakeholder ownership and private sector involvement, he said the
Partnershipï¿½s thrust is to give decision makers the opportunity to
identify the best way to develop renewable energy. He noted a stick and
carrot strategy approach combining a mandatory percentage for renewables
with among others, bilateral and multilateral support. Co-Chair Mohamed T.
El-Ashry, GEF CEO, underscored including poverty alleviation in the
strategy.

Frank Rittner, Programme Manager, GEF Washington, highlighted patterns
of power sector reform and the influence on the environment, and potential
effects of competitive markets. He also highlighted instruments for clean
energy reform, including enacting a stable and level playing field for
independent power producers, eliminating hidden subsidies, reducing
markets barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy and enforcing
comparable environment standards on all generators.

Klaus Knecht, Programme Manager, Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDG), highlighted developments in the
energy market as a result of liberalization and re-regulation. Noting the
consequences and CDGï¿½s initiatives, he traced the developmental steps of
dissolving state monopolies in generating, transmitting and distributing
power, new state regulations to control the market indirectly, activation
of private sector enterprises, increased authorized independent energy
producers and accelerated technical progress in the areas of renewable
energy and highly efficient technologies.

FORESTS 21

The workshop was convened by the World Commission on Forests and
Sustainable Development (WCFSD) and SEI.

Chair Ola Ullsten stated the greatest risk of forest loss is in areas
of low forest cover, already suffering from timber shortages. He
emphasized impacts on food production, flooding and increasing poverty. He
spoke of the WCFSDï¿½s report on forests, which stresses services other
than production, such as preventing soil erosion, water systems, and
carbon cycle.

David Kaimovitz, Center for International Forestry Research, stressed
the underlying causes of deforestation and provided an overview of
continuing global deforestation trends despite $2 billion spent per year
on technical assistance. He suggested policy makers, inter alia:
avoid placing roads and ports in forested areas; restrict certain large
scale investments; exercise caution with agricultural and forest product
trade liberalisation; recognize local ethnic groups rights and strengthen
their capacity to govern; and build a stronger and democratic systems of
property rights and law enforcement.

Salleh M. Nor, President, Tropbio Research, addressed water,
biodiversity and ecosystems. He maintained that: destruction of Malaysiaï¿½s
hill forests affects local water supplies; biodiversity is at risk from
loss of the gene pool and the lack of interest by young people in
taxonomy; and research into ecosystem dynamics is needed.

On climate and forests, Wolfgang Cramer, Professor, Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Research, highlighted the influences of forest
ecosystems on water and carbon cycle and effects on climate change. He
offered solutions to global warming, including focusing on cutting fossil
fuel emissions and removing existing amounts of carbon from the biosphere.

Claes Hall, Senior Advisor, Aracruz Cellulose, on timber and fibre in a
changing environment, opposed the idea of a forest crisis and stated that
from a commercial perspective, society is not at risk of running out of
timber and fibre. He recognised the need to bring together forest
stakeholders, and suggested forest issues be solved locally, regionally or
nationally.

Ashok Khosla, President, Development Alternatives, highlighted the
importance of secondary order consequences of deforestation, such as the
burden of fuel wood collection faced by women. He suggested that the
marginal costs of deforestation to livelihoods have not been adequately
captured and require additional research. He highlighted technology and the
appropriate institutions of governance as solutions to deforestation.

Discussion revolved around the issues of governance, devolution of
power to communities for forest management and environmental services of
forests such as carbon sequestration.

Kevin Dunion, Director, Friends of the Earth-Scotland, discussed fair
shares in environmental space and introduced the concept of sufficiency as
a means of limiting demand for goods utilizing natural resources. He
called for large-scale changes toward sustainable practices in both
developing and developed countries. He highlighted the importance of
shared responsibility and environmental justice to the progress of
sustainable development.

Ana Lorena Quirï¿½s Lara, Ecoglobal S.A. Costa Rica, discussed the role
of the commons in public markets. She suggested that, as a non-market, the
commons exist to overcome market failures and stressed that property
rights were critical in bringing about this transition. She highlighted
mitigation measures for non-market failures, including independent
projects evaluation, linking of costs and outputs, evaluation of rights,
and market mechanisms. She called for mechanisms to measure non-markets
effectiveness.

On poverty and sustainability in the non-market, Al Binger, Professor,
University of Jamaica, highlighted the need for mechanisms allowing
countriesï¿½ involvement in the global market. He further addressed:
environmental problems facing SIDS; methods of sustainable agriculture;
developing national (specifically SIDS) participation in international
organizations; and education as a vector of sustainable development.

On competitiveness and environmental quality, Franz Lehner, President,
Institut fï¿½r Arbeitstechnik, discussed ways to trigger growth in markets
and simultaneously assist developing countries. He said de-materialized
production systems would make goods available at a low price and low
environmental cost. He noted creation of better organized markets would
facilitate access to new technologies.

Doug Miller, President, Environics, presented a survey of consumer trends from 27 countries. Although views on the role of technology in
solving environmental problems varied, he noted consumers acknowledge the
risk posed by current environmental problems for future generations. He
identified a latent environmental activism among consumers and said
corporations could trigger suggested sustainable consumerism if they
catered to this new awareness.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY

PLENARY: Participants will meet in Room 2
from 16:00 to 18:00 for a plenary session entitled "A talk around the
world" featuring regional documentaries in collaboration with the
Global Dialogue partners in Thailand, Costa Rica and Zimbabwe.

WORKSHOPS: Participants will reconvene in the five workshops from
10:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 15:00. Forests 21 will start at 9:30.

Sustainable Developments is a
publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD) info@iisd.ca, publishers of the Earth Negotiations
Bulletin ï¿½. This issue is written and edited by Emily Boyd
emily@iisd.org, Richard Campbell
richard@iisd.org, Violette Lacloche
violette@iisd.org,
and Jessica Suplie suplie@pik-potsdam.de. The Digital Editor is
David Fernau david@iisd.org. The
Editor for this issue is Deborah Davenport
ddavenp@unix.cc.emory.edu. Logistics coordination by Molly Rosenman
mer42@hotmail.com.The Managing Director of Sustainable
Developments is Langston James "Kimo" Goree VI
kimo@iisd.org. Funding for coverage of
this meeting has been provided by the Stockholm Environment Institute
http://www.sei.se. The authors can be
contacted at their electronic mail addresses and at tel: +1-212-644-0204
and by fax: +1-212-644-0206. IISD can be contacted at 161 Portage Avenue
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